Falling
by AbbyF809
Summary: Don't want to tell ya too much:) Just know that Jess gets sick and it's not going to be all bunnies and sunshine:) Disclaimer: Show and characters are not mine; Rated T just to be sure;)
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys After reading so many great stories I thought I would write my own now

Let's see how it will work out.

Disclaimer:

The show and the characters are not mine and will never be! Oh and I am not making any money

It was a wonderful day. The sun was shining and the birds were singing in the trees. Even the grumpiest old man on the world was feeling happy today. Only one person felt absolutely under the weather: Jessica Day.

From the first moment she opened her eyes, she knew that the day wouldn't go well for her. If the scratchy throat, a mild headache and a runny nose were not evidence enough, the ache in her muscles was sure enough to convince her that she was sick.

After two attempts of getting up she finally called out for help. Knowing that Nick would be still dead to the world after being at the bar till 5 am, and Winston was out with Shelby, she tried to get her voice to call for Schmidt. Out came a little raspy peep that didn't even resemble her normal voice.

_Well...that's what I call a bummer, _she thought with a little frown.

Two more tries and she was out of patience and strength. After a few more minutes of being literally trapped in her own mind she stuck out one of her arms to test the temperature of the room.

_Brrr! Did a travel storm come and pick the loft up just to throw us down somewhere around the North Pole? _She shivered violently from the cold breeze on her skin but forced herself to throw the covers back fully. Getting her feet on the floor wasn't that hard. Just her upper body didn't want to stay upright for a very long time. Jess shivered once again and tensed her leg muscles. Standing up has never been that hard before. _Come on Day...you can do that...you're not a wimp are ya?_

With the effort of pulling herself up, she let out a low grunt which was quickly replaced by a slight panting when she started to sway. _Whoa...that's how I imagine being high...why is there not enough air to breath? __And why am I sweating?_

Three steps and she was almost at the door. But why should it be so easy? Not being able to see straight, she promptly tripped over a lone shoe. The only thing she was aware of was the door coming rapidly closer and then her world went black.

Tbc…

Please let me know what you think

Shall I continue?


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you so much for such a great support! Never thought the story would get so many reviews

Here comes the next part for you. Hopefully you'll like that one too

Disclaimer:

The show and the characters are not mine and will never be! Oh and I am not making any money with this story!

Nick was thrown out of his pleasant dreams by a crash.

Since Jess moved in crashes and loud noises in the morning were nothing unusual. This girl was louder than a horde of elephants. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that, contrary to popular belief, Jessica Day was NOT a classic morning person. Although she was her sunny self from the first blink of her doll eyes, she still needed at least an hour to wake up fully if the wakeup call happened to take place before 8 in the morning. Until that she would literally stumble around and try to avoid any furniture and stairs.

Pulling his drifting thoughts back together, he listened for more familiar sounds but to his surprise he heard nothing but deafening silence.

_That's certainly strange _he thought and glanced at his clock. **7.45 am.**

Jess should be already gone for almost fifteen minutes. _THAT is even stranger._

Nick sat up and listened intently for any sound, but there was still nothing. _Maybe it was the door crashing shut by a running late Jess?...Nooo….are you still sleeping? That was a glassy crash and not a doory one…_

This determined, Nick got out of bad and wandered to his door. Opening it only a crack wide he peered out but saw nothing.

"Jess?"

Nothing.

"Schmidt?"

Nothing again.

He opened the door wider and stepped into the hallway. Jess' door was closed and no sounds were coming from behind it. Shrugging the strange feeling that tingled in his stomach off, he walked into the living room to wipe is head from side to side. No broken glass. Not even anything fallen over.

_It's getting stranger and stranger pal!_

After a few more minutes of searching but finding nothing he decided that since he was awake now he would stay this way and start his day with a relaxing shower.

The bathroom was to his surprise completely void of Jess' makeup and hair products. Normally she would drag all of them into the bathroom in the morning and leave them there until evening. Now the only things adoring the shelves and sink were Schmidt's gelatos and regular products they all used.

_Maybe she has an organization project going? With Jess you can never know._

Shrugging once more he undressed and hopped in the shower. Ten minutes later he was standing dried of before the mirror and searching for the toothpaste. Shuffling gels and other things from one side to the other his eyes fell on a brown bottle.

_Aspirin? Someone's fighting a hangover?_

Shoving the bottle to the right he found another bottle but this time blue.

_NyQuil? Now I am concerned!_

Nick dressed as quickly as he could and marched into the kitchen where he looked under the countertop, finding an unused pink lunchbox that was adored with the glittery letter S.

_This is NOT good, _was his first and last thought before he briskly walked to his female roommates door.


	3. Chapter 3

Sooo, here comes a new and longer part The first two chapters were actually supposed to be one chapter but I wanted to see how you guys liked it so I split it

A big **THANK YOU** for all those who reviewed! You are really keeping me motivated!

Also a thank you to all readers for taking the time to drop by and read my story

Disclaimer:

The show and the characters are not mine and will never be! Oh and I am not making any money with this story!

Nicks timid knock at Jess' door echoed through her silent room and her hazy head.

_What happened? Why is someone hammering on my door when I am still sleeping?_

"Jess? Are you in there?"

The voice penetrated her mind but she couldn't place it. Everything was jumbled and absolutely weird. The best way she could explain her state was an out of body experience. Without the floating around and being the silent observer of course. Cause seeing anything was a bit hard since everything around her seemed to be clouded and moving in a very unpleasant way.

_Uh…I think I'm gonna throw up…_

Nick listened with one ear pressed to the wooden door and just as he wanted to pull away and berate himself for being paranoid he heard something. A moan….or a whimper.

"Jess? Are you alright? Are you decent….cause I'm coming in if you don't answer!"

Another moan was the only thing he could here and he couldn't deny the worry that crept into his mind.

"Alright Jess, I don't care if you are self-completing right now…I warned ya…I'm coming in."

He pushed the door handle down and started to open the door, when suddenly it met a resistance. Something was blocking the door. "Jess! Stop foolin' around now! It's not funny!"

On the other side of the door Jess was lying in a heap on the floor and felt a slight pressure on the back of her head and back. The stinging she felt on her forehead was rather annoying too. She just wanted to sleep. She wished for the blissful darkness to envelope her and dreams of fluffy kittens and Nick to come and sooth her. _Nick? Where did this come from?_

Another jolt brought her out of her thoughts and she pried one of her eyes open. _The floor? What am I doing on the floor? Is that Nick talking? I can't move…._

Not only Jess started to panic. Nick was now trying to reach into the room through a little opening and feel what was blocking the door. When his hand touched something soft he lingered a moment and then his eyes went wide. "Jess? Oh my god Jess can you hear me?"

The soft strands of hair that his hand was running through were not just once the object of his dreams but now he didn't feel warm and cozy while touching them. Coldness ran through his body and the panic seemed to close off his throat.

_What do I do? What do I do?...Stay calm Nick….for goodness sake stay calm and get her to move somehow._

He shifted a bit and sat full down on the floor so that his arm slipped fully into the room. Finally finding what seemed to be Jess' shoulder he shook her lightly.

"Jess you gotta wake up and move now."

"Nick?" Almost too quiet to hear but he still heard her weak voice.

"Yes sweetheart it's me. Can you move for me?"

His strong voice pulled her closer to awareness. A strange coldness ripped through her limbs, her fingers and lips started to tingle and a ringing shrilled suddenly in her ears. Unwanted tears were stinging her eyes and she was too weak to hold them back. And just like that a little sob came out of her mouth, almost choking her when she couldn't get enough air into her lungs.

Gasping for a few seconds she felt a strong hand stroking her shoulder gently and she finally was able to take in a breath.

"Help….can't breath…."

The spoken words almost ripped Nick's heart apart. He squeezed a few tears of his own back and cleared his throat.

"I'm gonna help you Jess. Don't worry. Just keep taking deep breaths and I will shift you a bit, ok?"

Before he could start to push her, her body made an uncontrolled movement forward and thankfully slightly away from the door. _Thank god for small favours, _was Nicks first thought. He moved the door a little bit further open and stood up. As fast as he could and as gently as possible he squeezed through the small gap scratching his stomach on the handle. _Man….I shouldn't have been eating so many cookies….._

First thing he noticed when he finally entered the room were the glass shards under his feet but before he could investigate what had been actually shattered he noticed the second thing: the heat. It seemed that Jess' has been cold and turned up the heater to maximum.

The next thing catching his attention was the whimpering that reached his ears.

Looking down, he though his heart would stop beating. Jess was lying on her side, curled up and shivering violently. In an instant he was squatting down beside her and turned her around into his arms. "Hey, can you hear me Jess?" When she was fully in his arms he noticed a scratch on her forehead which was still bleeding but didn't seem to be too deep. Her eyes were unfocused and she was tensing with every shiver which worked its way through her whole body. And there was something else. Although her lips held a hue of blue and her skin was white as a sheet, her cheeks were flushed unnaturally and there were pearls of sweat on her skin. Touching a hand to her cheek the heat confirmed his suspicion of her high fever.

"Ok sweetheart, I'm going to get you to the bathroom and try to lower you fever alright?"

A faint nod was all he needed. Slowly he slid his right arm under her knees and stood up with Jess' head falling onto his shoulder. Her ragged breathing tickled his skin and made him move faster.

On his way to the bathroom he stopped by Schmidt's door and kicked the door.

"Schmidt!" No answer. _Where is this guy when you need him. _

Not wanting to wait any longer Nick turned to the bathroom and went in. Sitting his charge gently down on a stool they recently added to the furniture collection in the bathroom, he fished with one arm for the nearest towel, which happened to be Schmidts.

Nick crouched down in front of Jess and held her face in both hands, trying to make her focus on him.

"Jess! I have to lean you on the wall and go soak this towel. Can you try not to topple over? Can you do that for me?" he felt weird talking to her like to a two-year-old but to his surprise it came easier than he thought it would.

Jess blinked tears from her eyes and nodded. While Nick has been carrying her, the ringing in her ears had stopped and the former tingling changed into a numb feeling. She forced her hands to grip the edge of the stool and keep her body from swaying too much. She saw Nick through a fog, almost running to the sink and putting the towel under the water. Her thoughts drifted off and before she could catch them Nick was back and folding the fabric into a rectangle.

"Don't worry, everything's going to be fine. I promise. This will help getting the edge off the fever."

Nick dragged his left hand through her thick hair until he reached the back of her head, where he supported it. The other hand started to dab the wet and cold towel over her face, throat and exposed part of her chest.

She flinched the few first times when the cold touched her skin but after a few minutes her head started to clear.

"Nick….I can't breathe….It hurts"

Now that she was more coherent, Nick was tempted to leave her for a few seconds to dart into the living room and get the phone to call an ambulance, but her meek voice held him back. How could he leave her when she was calling out for help to him? _Why the hell is no one else here!_, he raged inside but tried to control his features into a calm mask. He stood slowly, hung the towel on a hook and removed his hand slowly from Jess' hair. Jess whimpered between gasps and her hands searched with flailing motions for contact. _Don't leave me Nick! God don't leave me alone…I don't know what to do! _Tears came again and sobbing mixed instantly with the sharply drawn breaths which made the process of inhaling and exhaling even harder.

As sudden as Nick's retreat has been, even more sudden was his next move.

His hands slid under her armpits and he lifted her up without an effort.

"Up you go doll. We're gonna make your breathing better ok?" While he talked to her, he let her half stand on her own and turned her around, so that she was leaning heavily with her back on his chest and his arms were holding her around the waist.

"Now try to work with me here Jess, otherwise we'll be both kissing the floor."

Slowly Nick maneuvered them to the wall and leaned with his back on it just to slide down slowly to the floor, not once loosening his grip on the weak girl in front of him.

When his butt reached the floor he spread his legs and bend his knees on either side of Jess, letting her lean into his chest now more fully and in a more relaxed position for her.

"Now listen to me," he said while taking her hands in his on both sides and squeezing lightly.

"You have to calm down sweetheart. I'm here and I'm not going to leave you. Do you understand?"

As an answer he got a slight tightening of the hold she had on his hands now.

"Good. Now try to relax your body into mine and feel the rise and fall of my chest. Yeah that's it. Relax….You're not alone."

Slowly Jess' body got heavier against him and he could feel it molding into his.

"Now try to breath with me. Inhale…Exhale…..Inhale….Exhale….slower Jess."

At that point Jess tuned out his voice and concentrated on feeling his body move. The mere contact of their bodies was calming her. Slowly she felt her breathing match Nick's and she felt instantly better. Her hold on his hands lessened and she let her head fall back on his shoulder and turned it around so that her nose was pressed lightly into his skin, calming her even further. Her chest felt still on fire but her throat had expanded now and the sweet air she so desperately needed was rushing now easier into her body.

"That's it Jess. Relax."

Nick heaved a sigh of relief. _At least she's not choking anymore…., _he thought and turned his head to look down at her face, grimacing when he saw the fresh blood on her forehead and her still flushed cheeks. Detangling one of his hands from her, he genly caressed her cheek.

"We have to get you to a doctor honey."

A slight shake of her head and a strange sound stated her unwillingness to move.

"No, I'm serious Jess. And this time your sweet doll-eyes and puppy look won't make me change my mind." _And since she can't hold her eyes open for more than a few seconds it won't be that hard to resist, _Nick congratulated himself to his luck under those circumstances.

Just as he was about to prepare himself and Jess to move, he heard the front door open and bang close again. A shrill whistling of an unknown tune told him that it was Schmidt.

"Schmidt!"

Jess stirred in his arms. The loud noise was not nice. Especially this close to her ear. Jess was so close to falling asleep that she didn't care about the pain in her chest anymore and even less for the fever. Nick was cozily warm and sandwiched between his legs it was like heaven for her. Loud footsteps were now disturbing this dreamlike state though.

"Yo man, if you want to borrow some of my gel I have to say no already, cause I know that you wi….WOW!"

Schmidt barged into the bathroom in the middle of his speech and was shocked by what he saw lying before him. Momentarily rendered speechless he just stood there and gaped.

"Snap out of it Schmidt! Get me the damn phone or call the ambulance yourself!" Nick barked at his friend in a low but firm tone. For a few more seconds Schmidt stared at them but then turned abruptly and ran into the living room, snatching the phone with shaking hands.

He already had dialed when he arrived back in the bathroom, squatted down besides his two friends and handed Nick the phone.

While he half listened to Nick talking and explaining the situation, he touched his warm hand to Jess' pajama clad arm and rubbed lightly.

"Hey honeybee." He whispered. "Did you get a fever? Is Nick making it all better?"

Nick inwardly rolled his eyes but kept silent while waiting for the woman on the other side of the phone to start talking again.

Jess shifted her head a bit so she could squint her glassy eyes at Schmidt.

"I kinda don't feel so good." was her croaked answer to his question. With that she closed her eyes again and sighed.

Nick clicked off the phone and shoved it into Schmidt's direction with a grim expression on his face.

"We have to drive Jess to the hospital. It will be a lot faster than waiting for the ambulance. You drive Schmidt. Just grab something to drink and a blanket so that I can get her comfortable in the back."

When Schmidt got up with one last comforting rub to Jess' arm, Nick changed his position into a more sitting than lying one, taking Jess effectively with him. Since there was no protest coming from her so far, he worked his way from under her to hold one arm behind her back and steady her.

"C'mon Jess, we're going to get you some real help now."

Sleepily she put her arms around Nick's neck.

"You really help Nick." She mumbled, nuzzling into his shirt.

"Yeah…" Nick smiled slightly and once again swept her up into his arms, now more familiar with the feeling of her body against his. Slowly he maneuvered them into the living room, where Schmidt was already waiting for them with a fluffy blanket and a small bottle of water.

"Ready kids?"

"Yeah, now let's go Schmidt."

The way to the car was quiet easily overcome since they could use the elevator and Nick's car was parked right next to the building. Nick struggled for a few minutes with getting Jess and himself into the back of the car but finally he was seated in the middle and held Jess in his lap.

"Ok Schmidt, now give me the blanket, she started to shiver again."

Not a second later he was cocooning Jess into the blanket, so that only her head, which was still plastered to his shoulder, was sticking out.

"Now hold on to her bro. I'll get us there as fast as I can in this traffic."

That said Schmidt closed the door and ran over to the driver side, got in, fastened the seatbelt and started the car and immediately got absorbed into the hell of a traffic.

tbc…..

Hope you liked it:)

Don't be shy and review if there is some wish or comment you have or you just wanna be my

"fluffer" and keep me motivated


	4. Chapter 4

Here we go with a brand new chapter

Aaaaaand we will finally find out what's wrong with Jess….

Oh and while I am talking about her illness:

Please don't hit me if the medical terms and explanations happen do be inaccurate. I did my best to keep it as real as possible but I'm no doctor

And another thing: If Nick is such a good fluffer as you guys, I now TOTALLY understand why Jess seems so motivated all the time;) So a BIG BIG thank you for all readers and especially to all the reviewers!

SO I hope you'll like this new chapter with a bit more dialogue than the previous ones

Disclaimer:

The show and the characters are not mine and will never be! Oh and I am not making any money with this story!

"Can't you drive faster?" Nick demanded impatiently.

"Did you look outside pal? It's like a damn Mardi Gras!"

After a short pause he added "How is she?"

"Not so good. Her fever isn't going down at all."

Nick's worry lines were getting deeper by the minute. Although he was trying to cool Jess' face with the water and a cloth, she still had a fever which was entirely too high for his liking. When he looked down once again he saw two blue orbs staring back at him.

"Hey there Jess. How do you feel?" _What a dump question, _he though instantly.

"Better. I'm not cold anymore." Came the whispered answer and without blinking. Nick couldn't hold back his turtle face at this information. As far as he knew, not being cold while having a fever was NOT a good sign. At least not while it was so high.

"Ok….and what DO you feel?"

"Light"

"What?" Nick asked but that was Jess' final answer before she fell into an uneven slumber.

Nick resumed his cooling with the cloth and prayed that everything would turn out right.

Now was the time where he was able to actually think about the situation and what just happened. Jess was never sick. Being a teacher she had contact with a lot of people and he always thought of her as being inured to all kind of bacteria and viruses. The most serious thing she caught in all the time he knew her was a runny nose and a sore throat and headache after a particularly bad day at school. But this was serious now. The girl was practically delirious since he found her and who knew how long before that. What would have happened if he wouldn't have woken up? Or if he just would have assumed that the crash had come from outside the loft and went out without checking further.

An even more horrible nightmare than it was right now, he answered himself.

A frantic honking made him look up from Jess and out of the car.

"Please try not to kill us all before we get to the hospital."

"It wasn't my fault! It is this scruffy old man over there you have to yell at."

To Nick's relief he could already see the hospital at the end of the street. Just five minutes later they were pulling up in front of the emergency entrance.

"I'm going to get her inside and fill out all the forms and you try not to leave my car in a no-parking zone, alright?" Not waiting for an answer, he heaved them out of the car and kicked the door shut.

Holding Jess tightly to his chest, he rushed through the automatic doors and to the front desk, which was being occupied by an older plump woman with short gray hair and an open expression on her face. This expression morphed instantly into a concerned frown when she saw Nick and the barely conscious girl in his arms.

"What happened, Sir?"

"She has a high fever and breathing problems. I called 15 minutes ago. Her name's Jessica Day."

During his explanations two nurses rolled a gurney right beside Nick and held it steady while Nick laid her carefully on it and pushed a stray curl from her face.

"Bring her to the examining room 3 and get Dr. Simmons there STAT." The woman ordered firmly.

Before Nick could say anything, Schmidt ran through the door and came to a screeching hold beside him. "Where is she? Do they know what's wrong already?"

Nick shook his head and patted his friends shoulder comfortingly.

"I would need Miss Day's insurance card and someone who could fill out those forms here."

Nick glanced to the name tag on the woman's shirt.

"No problem Nurse Martha. I will fill out the forms and my friend here has the card."

They exchanged the card and forms and a momentarily silence enveloped them until Nick broke it after a few minutes with a whisper.

"Schmidt? Do you know who she has listed as her medical proxy?"

Schmidt shrugged and mulled over it for a second.

"I know it's not her parents…maybe CeCe? We should call her and Winston by the way."

"I can fill that particularly blank for you." Interrupted the nurse.

"One of you isn't Nick Miller by any chance?"

Completely taken aback Nick put the forms on the desk and stared at the woman. The corners of his mouth pulled slowly down and a very surprised version of his turtle face appeared before he nodded slightly and pointed with his thumb at himself.

A puzzled look spread over Nurse Martha's face. "Are you or aren't you?"

"That would be him, right bro?"

"You're asking me man?" Nick send Schmidt an incredulous glare and his voice kind of broke under the stress that started overwhelming him. "Why are you asking me? You know that's me! Why would she list me as her medical proxy? Me! I'm not right for this! Why does she always have to do something so…so…."

"Sweet?" Schmidt offered smirking.

Nick gaped at him. "You call that sweet?! That's STUPID! I am NOT a suitable person for stuff like this! We are talking about ME! NICK MILLER! Law school dropout and old man cloth wearing Nick! " he was panting and looked as if he was about to cry, when a voice with a dry tone cut into the more or less one sided discussion.

"So you are Nick Miller. I need your signature down here. Thank you."

Like on autopilot he signed the forms and braced himself with both hands on the desk, sighing deeply and closing his eyes. _Clear your head Miller….you have to stay calm and for once in your life take the responsibility for something…or rather someone…Jess._

"Can we go wait for her?" he finally asked a lot calmer than a few minutes ago.

"I'll show you the way."

Both man followed Nurse Martha quietly, sat down on the plastic chairs in the waiting room and looked once again concerned. Nurse Martha smiled understandingly.

"The doctor will come meet you as soon as he knows what's going on."

"Thank you."

With that said they were left alone with each other and their thoughts.

Five minutes went by.

Schmidt stood up, fishing in his pocket for his cell phone and went out to call CeCe and Winston.

Nick waited.

Ten minutes.

Schmidt came back telling Nick that both of their friends would arrive in about half an hour.

Nick nodded, rested his head in his hands and kept on waiting.

And finally twenty minutes went by.

Once again Schmidt rose from his seat, but this time to start pacing.

Nick ignored him and waited.

When after thirty minutes he heard hurried footfalls he knew that CeCe had arrived.

He could see her coming around the corner and Schmidt walking towards her and answering her frantic questions. But he didn't listen. Why should he? He didn't know anything more than Schmidt and he wasn't really in the mood to relive the past two hours. _Was it really just two hours ago that he heard the crash and woke up? It feels more like a lifetime. And the damn doctor isn't coming…_

"Hey Nick?!" CeCe's voice sounded strained and husky. Was she crying? To see for himself and also to give a sign that he was still alive, he looked up at her questioningly.

Her hair was pulled back into a pony tail, her eyes were glassy and her clothes seemed to have been thrown on randomly. Even an old-man-clothes wearing dude could see that the pink top with frills didn't really match the green leggings and yellow flat shoes. In fact, this composition gave him the creeps. Shuddering lightly he decided to concentrate on her face.

"Thank you Nick."

Now he was taken aback. _What the hell is she thanking me for? For not finding Jess before she cracked her skull open? Hell for not even noticing that she was feeling bad in the first place?_

_Yeah thanks for that Nicholas….you're a real trooper!_

"…and imagine what could have happened if you didn't know!" Nick blinked confused. CeCe was quite riled up and gesticulating wildly while looking at him seriously.

He was about to open his mouth to tell her his piece of his mind, but was interrupted by a man in white scrubs entering the waiting area.

"Family of Miss Day I assume?"

Nick had never before jumped up so fast off of a chair.

"How is she?"

"Can we see her?"

"Can we take her home?"

The whirlwind of questions made the doctor smile softly and he shook his head while gesturing them to calm down.

"Is one of you Nick Miller? I know you are all worried but I can really only talk to her proxy right now." Stunned silence filled the room. This was not good.

"I am Sir. I'm Nick Miller. What's going on?"

"Your friend is taken care of for now, don't worry. Mr. Miller, if you would follow me to my office, please?"

A quick glance to his two friends confirmed that they had the same worry lines on their faces and must be thinking the same thing. CeCe and Schmidt nodded at him. "Go on Nick." Was the only thing CeCe got out before her eyes glazed over and her hand fumbled for Schmidt's to hold it in a firm grip.

The walk to the doctor's office was rather depressing. Nick felt as if he was on his way to a war zone where he knew he wouldn't get out of alive or at least in one piece.

The doctor led him to a door at the end of the corridor and gestured him inside, asking him to take a seat. When both man were sitting, the man opposite Nick, opened a chart and sighed.

"Well, first let me introduce myself. I am Dr. Alfred Simmons. I treated Miss Day when she arrived. Uhm…are you in a relationship with her, if you don't mind me asking?"

"No no no, we're just friends. I'm her roommate to be specific. Can you tell me what's wrong with her now?"

Dr. Simmons nodded and glanced at the opened chart.

"Your friend has a severe case of pneumonia. It would help us a lot if you would be able to tell us when she started to feel ill and what the symptoms were."

_Pneumonia? Seriously? _

"Ehm…do be honest Sir, I didn't notice anything wrong with her before yesterday. And I don't even know for sure if her behavior yesterday was related to this."

"Any little hint can help us treat her. Obviously it is a community-acquired pneumonia, which in the most cases doesn't require a hospitalization but your friend is not really responsive and at moments even confused, has a temperature greater than 104° Fahrenheit and appears to be dehydrated. We're giving her antibiotics right now and we're helping her breath with an oxygen mask but the problem is that she isn't really responding. She still can't breathe properly."

After a short pause he added.

"What did you notice yesterday?"

Nick coughed slightly and tried to clear his head to remember the day before.

"Well…in the morning she was slightly more moody than normally. When she came back from work she said something about a headache but she laughed it off. Said that her students were doing a role play and it got quite emotional. I left for work around 10 pm and she was about to go to bed. That's a lot earlier than she normally does. I didn't think there was anything to it. Just a bad day."

"Was she coughing at all? A sniff? Anything else besides the headache?"

Nick feverishly tried to remember the details of the few moments together with Jess.

"She did sniffle a few times but it wasn't anything extreme. The same goes for the coughing. I think I heard her cough once but it was more like clearing her throat."

Once again Dr. Simmons sighed. He stopped writing in the chart and looked up.

"So it seems to be a typical lobar pneumonia." Seeing Nick's blank stare he elaborated.

"It means that it begins immediately severe with high fever, chills and a cough. It's an acute inflammation of the lung tissue. The antibiotics should take care of it, but our main concern is here breathing problem. It could lead to a respiratory insufficiency. That would mean that she would need an artificial respiration. We will have to decide soon. Otherwise it could lead to oxygen deficiency." He pushed away the chart and folded his hands.

"What can you treat it?"

"If you mean the respiratory insufficiency, we can't really. We can supply her body with the needed oxygen but the basic treatment is to cure the cause of it. In this case the pneumonia. Does your friend suffer from bronchial asthma?"

"I don't know….she never mentioned it."

Dr Simmons nodded and stood up, shoving his hands into the pockets.

"I'm going to take you to her if you want. But only you for now. In a few hours we will know if she has to be taken to the ICU."

"Thank you." Nick's brain seemed to be blank and at the same time whirling with thoughts. It was a strange feeling and it confused him. _Artificial respiration? My Jess? Sweet and bubbly and happy Jess relaying on a machine to keep her alive? Oh God…._

Before he realized it, they reached a white door and the man leading him stopped.

"Here we are. Don't mind the nurses coming in every few minutes to check on her. I would ask you to not stay too long though, because we will have to prepare her to be moved into a room either in ICU or station B on the third floor." A tight smile as a goodbye and off the doctor went, leaving alone with his thoughts and fears.

He knew it was stupid but he was scared. He didn't want to see Jess motionless in the white bed and with a mask over her mouth and nose. But she was alone. Alone in a strange bed and surrounded by strangers. Even more scared than he was.

With a swift movement he grabbed the handle and pushed the door open.

A sharp sterile smell shot into his nose and made him crinkle it. The lights were dimmed and there were no windows. In total there were four beds but only the overheads for the last bed, which was the only one occupied, were on.

Slowly Nick made his way to the bed and stopped at the side of it.

Tears prickled in his eyes when he took the sight in.

Jess was covered by a thin blanket, her arms lying on either side of her over it. Her dark hair was splayed over the white pillow and created a stark contrast. Her skin was even lighter than usual and her eyes were closed. Although the monstrous mask was obscuring her face, he noticed with a tinge of relief that her flushed cheeks had changed their color from a stark red to a lighter pink.

Nick sat lightly on the edge of the bed and took her hand in his, letting the thumb draw soothing circles on the soft skin. His other hand found its way involuntarily to her cheek. Feeling the warm skin under his palm, he sighed worriedly.

"Why didn't you tell me Jess?" While he was talking softly, his hand started a stroking motion, feeling the strands of dark hair sooth his own jittered nerves.

"I would have gladly stayed home if you'd have told me you didn't feel well."

After he brushed Jess' unruly bangs from her eyes, he observed her uneven and shallow breathing and the irregular raise and fall of her chest.

"I have to go Jess. Just for a few minutes. I have to tell Schmidt and CeCe what's going on. They're both very worried about you." He detangled his hands from her although his body and heart were screaming in protest.

"Don't go anywhere kid." He smirked and brushed her hand with his fingers a last time and retreated back to the waiting area.

Tbc….

I know it wasn't really full of action but c'mon guys….is the real life always full of action? ;)

Now I hope I won't get beaten up and can count on some "fluffer" talk Pwetty Please*puppydogeyes*

Oh and P.S.:

Please don't mind any grammar or spelling mistakes cause when I write I'm like over motivated and just want to get my ideas out and since I don't have a beta reader and the Spell&Grammar corrector likes to overlook some stuff it is likely that there are going to be some squeezed in between

But I hope they're not too bad


	5. Chapter 5

I just ordered my New Girl DVD! I am soooooo excited!

You guys know what that means? Jess&Co from morning till evening I think my mother will hate me after the first week

Well back to the story: Another new chapter with some niiiice revelations

Have fun!

Disclaimer:

The show and the characters are not mine and will never be! Oh and I am not making any money with this story!

When Nick arrived in the waiting area he noticed that Winston had finally found his way to the hospital too. Greeting him with a nod, Nick gazed at them before he explained what he had learned from Dr. Simmons.

"Pneumonia? Where the hell did she manage to get that?" was Winston's first reaction.

"I don't know pal. But what I DO know is that it will take her quite a while to get completely through this. We need to get her some clothes and all that girly stuff. I'm sure she'll want some distraction as soon as she wakes up and feels a bit better."

CeCe was nodding eagerly. "I'm gonna go get all of it. Schmidt, you want to drive with me?"

CeCe brushed a comforting hand over Nick's arm as a goodbye and Schmidt followed her out of the hospital.

Nick looked after them and the second they were out of sight, let himself sink into the nearest chair. He felt Winston sit beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey man. How are you?"

Shrugging, Nick only grunted quietly.

"Listen, Schmidt told me what happened. You did really good Nick."

Nick shook his head.

"I should have seen it coming. I should have noticed something was off yesterday. When Dr. Simmons asked me about her behavior I realized there a bunch of uncharacteristic things she'd done yesterday. I should have at least asked her."

"Man, this is Jess we are talking about here. And besides, she may be wearing her heart on those colorful sleeves of hers but when she REALLY feels bad you know as good as I do that she is trying not to burden us with it most of the time. And believe it or not, she knows how to hide things behind her cheerful exterior better than anyone of the three of us."

Nick had to admit his friend was right. Although Jess was the most open person he ever had met, she did have her moments where she would just close the door to her room and don't come out for hours just thinking and brooding or doing whatever she had to do to feel better.

"You most probably saved her life today Nick."

Winston paused and a little smirk appeared on his face. He leaned back in his chair and looked genuinely amused.

"And I am sure the moment she comes out of this she won't let you forget about it until you either get smothered by her gratitude or finally kiss the daylight out of her."

"WHAT?!" A horrified expression spread over Nicks face.

Winston didn't offer anything else. Just sat there and grinned.

"Wha…what did you say? KISS HER? Winston our relationship is not like that! I mean…"

"Not yet."

Groaning loudly, he let his shoulders sag in defeat.

"Am I that obvious?"

"No." Winston laughed. "Even more!"

Panic started rising in Nick's belly. Who else knew that he had the hots for his only female roommate? _This sounds too much like a cliché! Sunny and beautiful girl moves into an apartment full of man and the grumpy looser falls in love with her. Crazy!_

"I think the only one who doesn't know is Jess herself. She is too busy finding reasons why you wouldn't like her _this _way. I think she almost found them just the other day when you told her she looked scrawny in this hot red dress."

Nick's eyes went wide.

"I didn't mean it like that…I just…"

"I know."

Once again silence took hold of the room, but only for a moment because there was only little thing that was nagging on Nick's mind.

"You mean she feels it too?"

"You have to ask?" Winston laughed. "She's like a puppy with you Nick. You show her just a fraction of affection and she is over the moon and following you everywhere, happy when you show the slightest interest in her."

"She is happy when you show interest too. That is simply how she is! She is easily excitable."

"Yeah but I never got her blushing by simply telling her that she was late for work."

A deep breath later and Nick was looking at the floor.

"What a mess…"

"Yeah."

Not ten minutes later Dr. Simmons reappeared.

"Mr. Miller. We transferred Miss Day to the ICU."

"Why? What happened?" Nick couldn't hold back the slight panic in his voice.

"Her breathing isn't improving. Actually got slightly worse. We prepared her for a respirator already. Just to make sure she doesn't stop breathing on us."

Nick glanced at Winston's worried face and dragged a shaking hand through his hair.

"Can I stay with her? I mean…we can take turns…"

"Yes but only one or two at a time. Come with me now. I'll show you to her room."

"I'll stay here and wait for the others." Offered Winston and sat back down.

This time the walk to Jess was quiet longer and more uncomfortable. Now that Nick knew what was wrong with her he couldn't occupy his rattled thoughts with guessing. He didn't have anything else left than worrying.

The sliding doors they arrived at a few minutes later were made of glass and he could see three nurses standing at Jess' bed.

"Ah, they already connected her to the machines. I will be back in the evening. Ehm…I guess you will be here?"

"Yes I will" he nodded and smiled politely.

He observed the nurses working and was relieved when they gathered their tools and trays and came through the sliding doors. When the last nurse came out, he went in.

He walked slowly to the bed and noticed a chair right beside it. He didn't need to think about his choices. He let himself slide on the bed and took once more Jess' hand in his own. Everything looked the same, just the mask was now replaced by a plastic mouthpiece which was connected to a beeping machine by a white hose and there were some new ECG patches on her chest.

"Hey Jess. I'm back like promised. Hope you weren't bored by those nurses…and without me."

Of course there was no answer but he didn't mind.

For the first time in a long while he had the opportunity to watch her again without fearing to be too obvious and take every detail of her beauty in.

Her still pink cheeks contrasted her smooth milky but still too pale skin. Her long dark lashes were touching her skin softly. He would gladly give up on a lot of things to just see her doll-eyes open. They were always his undoing. He could never say no to her if she managed to pin him with those big blue eyes. His thumb traced the arch of her eye brow and wandered to her hair. Almost as much as he loved her eyes, he loved her hair. _Did I really just think love? Oh what the hell…who am I kidding? I'm head over heels in love with this girl…._

His eyes slid to her chest, which was now moving in rhythm with the pump in the machine she was connected to. Instinctively his other hand resumed the caress of the knuckles under it.

Nick was startled from his reverie by a tightening of small fingers over his hand. Looking down he saw Jess' knuckles turning white from the effort.

"Jess?"

His eyes drifted to her face again and he could see her eyelids fluttering. It seemed as if she wanted to wake up but couldn't. Nicks hands grabbed her face gently and his thumbs were stroking her cheeks.

"Can you hear me sweetheart?"

Nick felt joy bubble inside him when her eyes cracked open and he could see the stunning blue peeking through the slits.

Nicks face drew closer to hers and he looked into her eyes.

Jess struggled to open them wider, but before her lids got half way her eyes started to lose their focus. They swam from side to side and finally rolled back and her lids fell shut again.

"No, c'mon Jess. Don't be like that…."

No answer.

There was no sign that she ever had opened her eyes. Disappointedly Nick hung his head for a minute, just to whisper a few seconds later. "Rest now, honey. Tomorrow everything will look a whole lot better." Bending down, he planted a feather like kiss on Jess' forehead and withdrew slowly. He decided to test out the chair and stood up. To his surprise the chair was actually comfortable and he leaned back, keeping his eyes trained on his still friend.

Since Nick didn't have a watch on him, he didn't know how much time passed since he sat down but it must have been longer than he expected, cause Dr. Simmons was coming into the room with a nurse following behind him.

"Nice to see you've made yourself comfortable Mr. Miller. I assume nothing happened while I was gone?"

"Actually, she opened her eyes for a few seconds. Even held my hand. But she didn't seem to be really awake. Is that a good sign?"

While he was checking the monitors around them and shining a light into Jess' eyes, he answered.

"That happenes sometimes. She still has a relatively high fever and we gave her sedatives to lower the chance of her rejecting the tube. Even if her body would want to wake up, the drugs would pull her back to sleep." Dr. Simmons finished his examination and turned fully to Nick.

" Should she wake up fully before we had the chance to get the tube out, she will probably panic. Having a foreign body shoved into your throat can do that. In this case, please push the emergency button and one of the nurses will come running. Good night. Oh and your friends are waiting outside."

"Thank you. I'll come out with you."

Arriving outside of the room, Nick found CeCe, Schmidt and Winston sitting on chairs along the corridor.

"Hey guys."

"So how is she?" asked CeCe, dragging a large bag with her when she stood.

"Besides the fact that she isn't breathing on her own, she she's a bit better. Her fever went down to 103,5 F. and she is resting. You can go in by the way. Two people are allowed."

"Thank you. I'm gonna take the bag with me inside. I brought a few things for you too." With that said, CeCe walked through the doors and the corridor was silent again until Schmidt patted Nick' shoulder sympathetically.

"How are you holding up bro?"

"Like an old tree in the wind. Ready to crack any minute."

Schmidt nodded and looked at him with his infamous pity eyes.

"Stop that Schmidt, I'm not the one lying in the hospital bed."

"No but you suffer almost as much. And besides, she is sleeping and can't appreciate my effort….you can!" The only answer Schmidt got was a loud groan.

An hour later everyone had visited Jess and they were all standing in the corridor again.

"I guess we're going to go home. It's almost 8 pm." Winston announced.

"I'm ehm…I guess I'm…"

"No need to stutter around Nick. We know you'll be staying." Schmidt laughed.

Nick was glad he didn't have to say it out loud himself. He still was a little uncomfortable with the knowledge that everyone knew about his love interest.

"See you tomorrow man. And don't scare off the nurses. They just want to help." Nick just shook his head at Winston's parting words.

"Take her of her Nick. And yourself." CeCe whispered, turned around and turned around to leave, but Nick called her back.

"Hey CeCe! Thank you for the trust. It means a lot to me."

The woman just smiled and turned around again.

Nick went back into the room and bent down to open the bag. First he saw two toothbrushes and toothpaste. Right under that he found magazines for himself and a lot of clothes for both of them.

When he got the magazines out his eyes fell on a little bound notepad. His eyebrows drew together when he saw his name written on the front and he noticed that it was in CeCe's handwriting.

He took the notepad in his hands and carried it to the chair. After making sure the Jess was still resting, he sat down and opened it. A sticky note was stuck to the first page. It read:

"_I'm giving this to you because I firmly believe that Jess will be back with us and her usual lovely self in no time. Take the time you are unable to sleep in this chair of yours to read this. CeCe." _

Now he was curious. He removed the note and revealed a title in a thick black font

"**30 Things to know before you date my best friend"**

A spontaneous laugh burst out of him and he quickly covered his mouth. Looking around him, he made sure if anyone had heard him and when he didn't see anyone coming to throw him out, he turned back to the notepad.

"Oh Jess…you would so enjoy this."

Turning the first page he took in a deep breath.

"Not would….you will enjoy it with me together….just…don't mind me stammering Miss Teacher!"

He looked down and started reading out loud.

"First and important thing for you to know: If you should ever hurt or make Jess cry or sad or unhappy I will come find you and not only crazy murder but let you suffer in various ways. Those would be: Pinch your nipples until you think you had at least 60 babies gnawing on them, hide all your flannel shirts, fill your shampoo bottle with Schmidt's hair gel, make you eat so much cotton candy that…."

Nick has been reading until his voice got slightly raspy. He finally put the notebook on the side table and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I guess I have to get some shut eye now Jess. I'll talk to ya tomorrow again." He leaned forward and placed a chased kiss on her cheek.

"Sweet Dreams honey."

Nick leaned back and stretched his arm out to shut off the small bedside lamp. Only a few minutes later he fell into a light enough sleep, so that he could here if there was something wrong with his roommate.

Tbc…

Thanks once again for reading

Feel free to review and keep me motivated ;)

Oh if you have some ideas or suggestions you wanna see written in the story, please don't hesitated to tell me all about it!


	6. Chapter 6

Here comes a new chapter for ya.

Hope you'll like it

Disclaimer:

The show and the characters are not mine and will never be! Oh and I am not making any money with this story!

The next morning came for Nick faster than he really wished for. His heavy eyelids didn't open and he tried to listen to his environment, not knowing what had woken him up. His neck was killing him from the awkward position he obviously had slept in. Suddenly his still tired ears picked up on a sound that, he at least thought so, wasn't supposed to be there.

It was like a rattling, deep in ones throat. Almost a keening…not that he ever had heard one but that's how he imagined it. There it was again.

Nick pried his eyes open and looked around. Nope…no ghost or zombies.

The sound echoed through the room again. Nick dragged his eyes to Jess. That's where the sound was coming from.

Jess' eyes were closed but her arm was twitching nervously and her head was jerking slightly from side to side. Small beads of perspiration were glistening on her face and chest and Nick got suddenly nervous. A bad dream or fever? He had to admit he was scared to find out.

He quickly stood up and almost sprinted the small distance to the bed, sitting down in his usual position, with his upper body bent towards the bed's occupant.

His hand found its way now easily to Jess' cheek, stroking it. The warmth Nick could feel radiating from her was not doing anything to lessen his nervousness and worry.

Just when he was stretching his other arm out to get a hold of the emergency button, he was distracted by Jess' opening eyes.

"Hey sweetheart. I'm going to call the nurse, ok?"

Her blue eyes were still unfocused but she managed to hold them open long enough to bestow him with a pleading look, before she started to cough violently.

In an instant Nick had pushed the red button and was back at Jess' side, holding her face between his palms to hold her still.

"Calm down Jess! You have to calm down or you're gonna hurt yourself."

Her eyes went big and her hands flew to his, to grab his wrists tightly. Panic was written all over her face and it broke Nick's heart to see her like that.

"C'mon trust me. Everything's going to be fine if you just relax!"

To Nick's big surprise Jess' hands relaxed their hold on him and the tension in her body ebbed away slightly. "That's it honey."

Before he could say anything else, a nurse came running into the room.

"What happened?" she barked, while coming up beside Jess and looking at all the monitors.

Nick stood up but Jess didn't let go if his hand, so he stood by closely during his explanations.

The nurse nodded darkly and picked up a syringe and started filling it up.

"What are you giving her?"

He couldn't help but feel protective of Jess. He knew it was completely ridiculous in this situation but well…love could do strange things to you.

"I'll give her a mild sedative. We don't want to knock her out for a whole day again but the respirator needs to stay for at least a few more hours. Then we'll see if she can breathe on her own again. I will give her something for the fever also. In addition to her regular medication." She paused and eyed him bemused. "Was the report to your satisfaction or should I deepened it a bit more?"

Nick blushed furiously and shook his head. After a few more moments the nurse had given Jess all the necessary shots and collected her tools to rush out again.

Rustling made him look back down.

Jess was still clutching his hand and stubbornly tried to keep her eyes open, which made Nick chuckle.

"Go back to sleep."

A headshake and tightening of the small hand in his, showed her displeasure.

"It's gonna be easier when you're asleep. You won't even feel that thing in your throat."

The moment the words came out he already winced. That was an insensitive thing to say to someone with a fever and a respirator.

"Sorry Jess." He sat back down and squeezed her hand back.

"I'm not leaving, you know? You can sleep and I will be here all the time to keep you safe. Trust me."

The trust thing seemed to work with her. She relaxed into her pillow and didn't fight the sleep anymore. _I should have tried that before. Would have spared me a lot of nerves while arguing with her. _Only a minute later Jess was asleep again. Nick patted her hand and let it slip from his own.

_Time to brush teeth and read some more CeCe-Threats._

An hour later Nick had reclaimed his chair and reading material, but before he could start reading to Jess Dr. Simmons came in.

"Good morning Mr. Miller. I heard there was a bit of excitement not long ago?"

"Yeah…a bit. She had a fever and got scared by the respirator."

Dr. Simmons nodded and checked the monitors.

"Would you mind stepping out for a moment? I have to examine her thoroughly. It won't take long."

Without hesitation Nick made his way out of the room. He leaned on the wall and buried his hands in his pockets. Glancing at the white clock over the door, he sighed. 7.00 am.

Suddenly a thought raced through his head. Work. He should have been at work yesterday night.

_Ah hell… that's not good at all…no cell phone._

He looked uncertainly to the closed door. _Go or not go….I'm sure it won't take long to find a phone around here. _

Decision made, he shoved himself off the wall and walked off into the direction of the nurses' room. That's at least what the blue sign on the wall said.

He reached an open door and the small room was busing with live inside. Nicks head started to spin from the blur of movement and the sea of pink uniforms.

"I feel as if I am trapped in one of Schmidt's' sex dreams…." He murmured and shook his head in disbelief.

"Hey!"

Startled Nick looked with wide eyes at the nurse calling to him. She was round, her skin rosy and her cheeks red. She was reminding him of an apple. And that was the moments he noticed he was hungry. As if on cue his stomach rumbled in agreement.

"The cafeteria is downstairs." Quipped the same nurse and approached him.

"Ehm….nono…I…eh…need a phone."

One eyebrow rose and the nurse folded her arms in front of her ample bosom.

"You can find a payphone also downstairs."

"I can't. I promised my friend I wouldn't go anywhere. And the doctor is examining her but it's not enough time to go downstairs. Can't I use yours? It'll only take a moment."

The nurses round eyes canned him from head to toe and she huffed finally.

"Well…you don't look like the typical mooch…"

_Wait a minute! Not a TYPICAL mooch? What's that supposed to mean?_

Looking down at himself, he shrugged dejectedly. His wrinkled shirt he had been wearing since now two days wasn't about to bring him any stardom and his shoes weren't really tied properly.

_Note to myself: never forget to change into your pajama after coming from work and before going to bed! You can never know what will happen the next day._

"You have five minutes." The nurse rumbled and gestured to a lone phone on the wooden desk.

"Oooh thank you so much!" he raced to the phone and dialed the the number of the loft.

Five rings and Schmidt's voices rang out.

"Nick?"

Nick's eyebrows shot up in wonder.

"How did you know it was me?"

"You're my bro, bro….it's like soul mates."

"JAR Schmidt!" Nicks turtle face appeared in record time.

"How is Jess? Did something happen?"

"Nothing I have time to tell you right now. Can you call Alfredo and explain to him why I wasn't at the bar yesterday? I completely forgot to let him know…"

"Already done my friend. So what happened?"

Nick was momentarily struck speechless.

"How did you know tha…"

"I told you already how this bro thing works!"

Silence….and then:

"And CeCe remembered Jess moping over you having to go to work and not being in any condition to entertain her."

Rolling his eyes, Nick heaved a relieved sigh.

"Her fever spiked again. She woke up and got a good scare. Can't blame her though. I would freak out too if I noticed someone impaled me on a damn tube."

"Yeah….well..I don't think she would mind it so much if you'd have done the impaling though."

"Gross, Schmidt. I'm going to hang up now."

"See you later. Me and the gang are coming over around 2."

Nick put the receiver back and turned around.

"Thank you again!" he called out to the apple-nurse, still standing in the door and watching him more amused than anything else.

"Don't make a habit out of it. Don't you have a cell phone or something? You don't seem so old to be out of the modern loop."

Nick could only gape at her. This nurse was something else.

He quickly ran past her, but was held back by a firm hand on his arm.

"I'll bring you something from the cafeteria, son."

"Ehm…thank you?"

She nodded and gave him a light shove in the other direction.

"Weird…." He murmured while walking back.

True to her word the nurse, her name was Margaret, brought him a tray of food. He devoured the potatoes and the steak in record time and was unbelievably thankful.

Now he was once again sitting and waiting. It was already 1 pm and he was getting anxious. Jess' should have woken up around an hour ago.

Nick eyed her and was relieved to see that her skin was going back to its normal color and obviously her fever had gone down noticeably. So why wasn't she waking up?

Frustration swept over him suddenly.

Jumping up he started pacing back and forth. Suddenly his eyes fell on a table where he noticed a chess game. _Nooo…I am not that desperate._

But the game had a magical pull on him. Slowly he moved to it and started to rearrange the chess pieces. _Just because I like things being tidy….really._

He tentatively took a pawn into his fingers and sat him down in the middle of the board. Nick looked around to make sure no one was watching him and only a few minutes later he was engrossed in the game, trying to beat himself.

Just when his evil side was about to attack the white knight with a black rook, a groan from behind him made him look up. The rook fell back to its former place for now and Nick was running to Jess' bedside.

Blue eyes blinked confused and wandered around the room.

"Hi there beautiful." Nick smiled down at her. His face moved into her field of vision.

Jess' eyes focused on him and his words registered in her mind.

Her breathing hitched and instantly her eyes slammed shut again.

_Oh boy, wrong thing to say…._

"Relax Jess. C'mon now." He was horrified when he saw a tear trailing down her cheek.

Pushing the emergency button, he stroked with the other hand the tear away.

"I really don't want to sing again Jess. Don't cry."

Jess relaxed a bit and flailed her hand in search for his. Nick caught it willingly.

"That's it. Now you look even nicer."

Jess managed to roll her eyes, when the door opened.

"Ahaa…sleeping beauty awakened. Welcome back in the world of the worried and bothered."

Nick snickered.

After examining her, the doctor spoke up once again.

"Now comes the big moment. I think we can get the tube out. I will need you to breath in as much as you can and when I tell you to you will have to press all the air out ok? It's going to be unpleasant but after that you will fell, hopefully, better."

Tbc…

We are actually nearing the end of the story. I guess I will have one or two more chapters for you.

Don't forget to leave a review Love to hear your opinions on the chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

OH MY GOOOOD

They KIIISSSSSSED and I didn't see it cause I'm in Germany!

I wanna cryyyyyyyyy sooooo badly!

Seriously guys….that is just not fair!

Well…I will have to suck it up and simply wait…*sniffle*

In the meantime: here's another chapter

Disclaimer:

The show and the characters are not mine and will never be! Oh and I am not making any money with this story!

Coughing like she wanted to cough up her lung, Jess squeezed her eyes tightly shut and tried to draw in a breath. _Now I'm going to die before I can ask Nick what gotten into him…bummer._

The tube was sliding slowly out of her throat and once it finally found its way out of it, she was terrified. _Breathing….breathe Jess….why can't I breathe?_

Her lungs hurt and it felt as if they would burst any moment.

Black dots started to dance in front of her eyes, dizziness set in and she barely felt her upper body being lifted into a sitting position and a hand patting her on the back.

Through the curtain of black hair came a hand that put a mask over her nose and mouth.

_Air…sweet air….if it would just flow into my lungs now._

Jess felt tears of exhaustion starting to run down her cheeks.

Jest when she was sure she would pass out any second, suddenly her lungs expanded and sucked in enough air that she felt instantly better.

"That's it Jess. Nice deep breaths. Just like I told you before."

Oh this sweet calming voice. And what was this very warm and comfortable something behind her?

Exhausted but finally able to breathe again she let herself fall back against this mysterious thing. Her head was just too heavy to be held up by herself so she let it sink back against what felt like a shoulder. _Now when I think about it, I may be feeling some muscles pressing into my back._

Jess closed her eyes and felt two arms wrap themselves around her body and she turned her head slightly.

_Aaaaah…..musky smell…and honey….and manly…Nick…._

"Nick?"

Though raspy and almost not audible, for Nick her voice was like a soothing balm for his soul.

"Yeah it's me. How do you feel?"

Nick felt her taking a shaky breath and trying to summon all her strength to answer him.

"Winded….hot."

"That's to be expected Miss Day." A baritone voice mixed into the noises in her head.

"You're still running a fever of…102 F. and your lungs are a bit on the weak side."

Jess grunted in disapproval. _No kidding doc…_

"The medication seems to be working though. So in about three day you will be able to go home. But in the meantime we have to monitor your breathing and fever."

Writing something in the chart he paused for a second and finally looked up with a smirk  
"I am sure you won't get bored. Your friend will make sure of that."

Winking in Nick's direction, he patted him on his arm, which was still wrapped around Jess' middle, and pointed to the oxygen mask.

"Leave the mask on her for a while until you feel that she is breathing easier on her own. The nurses will be checking in regularly."

When the doctor disappeared, a strange silence spread through the room. Only Jess' still heavy breathing was an indicator that someone was still in there.

After a few drawn out moments, Nick finally trusted his voice to speak up again.

"Do you mind me sitting here? I can move if you're uncomfortable."

He wisely didn't mention the fact that he was very comfortable holding her like this.

After so many months of trying to ignore his feelings and avoiding any touch that would seem inappropriate, he was marveling over the effect her soft body had on him. It was as if little sparks were jumping from her body onto his and created a nice tingling in his belly.

_Man, when did I get that mushy? Must be a Jess-side effect._

Suddenly he noticed that the person in question was not answering him at all. Bending his head lightly forward to sneak a peek at her face, he found her eyes wide open and darting back and forth.

"What? What's wrong? Are you that uncomfortable?"

Muffled by the mask, her voice was so quiet that he had to lean even further to her face to catch what she was mumbling.

"If I'd tell you…that…I am as comfortable as a bear bathing in honey…would you leave me, run away and stop calling me those cute pet names?" A low cough followed her question and she squirmed in his embrace until she was lying on her side and her cheek was firmly pressed into the solid chest under her.

Nick tightened one arm around her waist and the other one snaked around started a comforting motion on her back.

"I wouldn't leave for a million dollars after this stunt, sweetheart."

And with this sentence he had answered all her asked and unasked questions.

_He's serious…I think I want to cry now….maybe I shouldn't…that would hurt I guess….he LIKES me!_

"Go to sleep Jess. You need your rest."

He felt her sigh contently and waited a few minutes until her muscles started to relax. Softly he pressed a kiss on her hair and whispered "We will have so much fun, sexy pants!"

A groan and a hand tightening in his shirt and then:

"Do not overdo it Mr. Turtle-Face."

Nick chuckled and held her a bit closer to him.

That's my Jess."

Jess has been asleep for almost two hours, when hushed voices woke her.

Pretending to be still asleep, she started listening.

"Really, she's right. You've waited longer than a turtle needs to crawl 100 km."

"What's gotten into you all with the turtles? And they don't crawl!"

_Obviously Schmidt and Nick having a weird conversation. But that's nothing new…_

"I knew from the moment she first talked about your flannel shirts, man."

_What? Winston too?_

"Guys, this is ridiculous."

_Ah…finally a voice of reason….CeCe._

"As her best friend I KNOW that they had this spark from the first time they met."

_And just like that my praise was torn apart and my hope crushed into little specks of dirt…_

"Ok…we're still in the room, you do realize that, right?"

"C'mon Nick don't be a grump. If I had such a nice lady in my arms I would be overjoyed and…"

"DON'T finish this sentence Schmidt!"

Nick raised his voice and immediately a chorus of "hush" and "are you nuts?" pummeled onto him.

Jess stirred, opening one eye carefully, testing the brightness of the light.

"See what you did Nick?" Schmidt groused now in a normal volume and crouched down beside the bed. "Hey doll. How are you? Has Nick taken good care of you? Uncle Schmidt will beat him up for you if he didn't behave himself."

Jess opened both eyes now and looked bemusedly into Schmidt's.

"I am not a child Schmidt." Although her voice was only a whisper, she was glad it was a bit stronger than before. The mask was still in place but she smiled softly anyway.

"But thank you for the offer. I have to disappoint you though. Nick was a true gentleman."

"His luck." Schmidt laughed and swept his knuckles gently over her cheek.

"Bro or not…when it comes to you there will be no tolerating inappropriate behavior."

Jess' eyes went wide.

"Does that mean we'll have to wait till we are married?"

"Jess I think you're fever is rising again. Why are you even listening to this?"

"Cause she likes me bro!"

"She likes me more!"

"Even so….it's a different way of liking so I win anyway!"

Just as Nick was about to shoot back a real nice comeback, Jess' chest heaved and a deep and wet cough shook her slim frame.

She grabbed Nick's shirt in a fist and held on for dear life.

"It's ok sweetheart. You remember? Deep breaths…in and out."

When the coughing fit finally ceased to torment her aching lungs, she let herself fall limply against Nick. "That….hurt." she informed them dryly and closed her eyes.

Nick put his hand on her neck and massaged the stiff muscles, while he glanced at his watch that their friends had brought him.

"It'll pass soon. The nurse will be here any moment to give you your shot."

Nick looked up at his friends. All of them had worry written on their faces. And they felt helpless.

"It's ok." Jess wheezed and managed a small smile behind the mask.

"Don't make faces…as if I died… or something."

This time CeCe took one of her hands.

"Babe, it was kinda close. So please don't joke about this, ok?"

Guiltily Jess looked down at the pattern on Nick's shirt.

"Sorry."

"We are just worried Jess."

"I know."

After a rather depressing silence, Winston looked demonstratively on his watch.

"Look at the time guys. I think we have to go. We'll be back tomorrow, Jess." He leant down and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek and told her in a low voice. "I'm glad you are a bit better. We're missing you, so get on your feet soon girl."

"Thanks Winston. Take care of yourself and Schmidt."

A tight smile appeared on his face and with a "bye" to Nick he walked to the door.

CeCe and Schmidt followed his lead and Jess and Nick were once again alone.

"I'm sorry Nick. I didn't want to upset everyone."

Guilt was still evident in her muffled voice and Nick patted her comfortingly on the arm.

"It's alright Jess. Don't worry about it. I guess all our nerves are kind of strained."

The nurse came, gave Jess her shot and with only a few words left again.

Nick started fidgeting a little bit and Jess looked up.

"Nick, why don't you go home and sleep in your comfy bed? "

"I told you I wouldn't leave Jess."

Jess huffed.

"But you're not comfortable. You were here the whole time. You deserve a break."

Nicks thoughts stopped suddenly.

"Wait…how do you know I was here the whole time?"

"Well…I heard you silly. You read something to me. I didn't catch what exactly but I heard your voice. You can't imagine how safe that made me feel."

An adorable pink hue covered her cheeks and she lowered her eyes sheepishly.

Nick chuckled sweetly.

"And you think that after saying something like this, I would actually leave?"

"Ehm….yeah?"

_So adorable, _he thought.

"Nope. I am staying."

"Thank you Nick" relaxing into him again, she started to drift off slowly.

"But before I stay, my snake needs to be drained very badly!"

Jess could only grumble.

Tbc…

Thanks for reading and reviewing Keeps me happy and writing

The next chapter could take one or two days longer cause I plan to make the last one slightly longer.

But it will only work if you keep on "fluffing";)


	8. Chapter 8

Here comes the last part guys.

Sorry for the delay, I had a bunch of stuff to do.

And it isn't as long as I wanted It to be but I also didn't want to force anything. Sometimes less is better than too much…at least I hope

Enjoy

The next few days went by uneventful. It took Jess' body two more days to be able to breathe without the mask and three more days to beat the fever. Although most of her symptoms had vanished, the nasty cough was still lingering and making Jess and also Nick have regularly a heightened stress level.

On the the sixth morning in the hospital Jess' was as excited as she was the last time at on Christmas morning. It was the day of discharge. Though Nick was really happy that they all would be able to go home and he already fantasized about his soft bedding, he was slightly exasperated by the slow doctors and nurses.

"Seriously Jess….how long does it take to get a signature? We're waiting on packed bags since breakfast." Came his voice from his sitting position on the bed.

Jess hummed softly and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"We packed our bags half an hour ago Nick. And we didn't have any breakfast cause you said this whole thing wouldn't take that long and we would eat comfortably at home."

Nick rolled his eyes.

"See, that was HOURS ago!"

Now it was Jess' turn to roll her eyes and she started scolding him for being so negative, when she was interrupted by a cough bubbling up in her chest.

She felt hands gripping her by the arms and pulling her backwards into a solid chest.

"All good Jess. Relax."

Between the lessening coughs jess tried to smile.

"I'm …fine:"

"Uhu…"

Not saying anything else, he just held her and rubbed her back in small circles.

To his immense relief it didn't take much longer for Dr. Simmons to appear.

"So Miss Day. I guess I can leave you in the capable hands of Mr. Miller now. Just to be absolutely clear: I want to see you here every day at 10.30 am sharp, is that understood?"

Both nodded dutifully.

"Very well. So I wish you a nice and restful day at home. Mr Miller, please make sure that she doesn't leave the bed more than need."

"I will. No problem."

Dr. Simmons shook both their hands and departed in a hurry once again.

Jess tugged at Nick's sleeve and bounced slightly on her feet.

"C'mon Nick….I wanna go home."

She was a little bit miffed that her voice still wasn't back to normal and she couldn't proclaim her excitement as loud as she wanted to but she was sure that Nick could actually feel her happiness radiating in big waves from her.

She took her seat in the wheelchair she was forced to leave the hospital in and raised her head in Nick's direction to smile sweetly at him.

"Ok Jess. Hold on and please don't fall out of the wheelchair."

"You are so not funny Miller!"

Nick shrugged innocently.

"I wasn't intending to be funny. I was instructing you not to give me a heart attack."

Jess turned her upper body to Nick and her smile grew bigger.

"Ooooh Nick, you are so sweet!"

Baffled Nick could only smile back.

_This girl is so unbelievable, _was his only thought and for the first time he wasn't scared to admit to himself that Jess' antics didn't irritate him-at least not all of them.

Roughly half an hour later Nick was unlocking the door to the loft and trying to calm an overly excited Jess behind him.

When he finally got the door opened and ushered the girl inside he was met by a loud shout of

"WELCOME HOME JESS" and people running up to Jess.

Although he had known that CeCe, Schmidt and Winston were going to take a day off today, he was surprised to see close to 20 people gathered in the living room.

He put the bag on the floor and waited until Winston had hugged Jess and then walked to him.

"Wow Winston. Where did all those people come from? I recognize maybe three of them."

"Well Nick, your girlfriend has a fan club. You'll have to live with the fact that she makes most people want to hug her and want to be friends with her."

Shocked eyes stared at Winston.

"What Nick? Man you know here for over a year now….you know this magical pull of hers….I mean…"

"No it's not that. It's the girlfriend part that kind of chucked me over the head."

"What?" Winston smirked. "Are not labeling it again?"

Nick punched him on the arm.

"Of course I am….well…we are. But to be perfectly honest we didn't really talk about this at the hospital. I mean…it is kind of obvious but you know me. I am not that big with words."

Winston sighed and shook his hand.

"I give you a tip, man. Start the conversation and knowing Jess, she will manage all the talking that needs to be done after that…mostly."

"Yeah…I guess you're right. I just don't want to screw this up with my dumb mouth."

Laughing loudly, Winston patted Nicks arm.

"This girl is willing to take a lot dumbness from you, otherwise she would have left within the first two months after moving in. And besides, I have the feeling she would love you to use your mouth not only for talking buddy."

Nick rolled his eyes but smiled lightly. Winston was right. He just needed to wait until all those fans would decide to go home.

Only three hours later only the five friends were left in the loft. CeCe and Schmidt were currently trying to clean the kitchen and Winston was effectively dodging that part of work. Instead he was sweeping the floor while dancing to an old country song blaring out of the radio.

Just when he was attempting a pirouette with the broom as his female partner, Nick came out of the bathroom carrying his oversized tool box.

"So guys, the toilette is fixed."

Letting his gaze sweep the room he noticed something amiss.

"Where's Jess?"

Not looking up from her cleaning, CeCe answered him.

"She was tired and was coughing quiet a lot so I told her to go take a nap. She'll be in her room."

Nick nodded and decided to check on her. Not that he didn't trust his friends but somehow he wanted to be sure that Jess was ok and not lying on the ground, bleeding and in pain.

_Hell Nick….you've got to stop thinking about this . She's fine and you will never let her out of your sight for such a long time so it won't happen again._

Knocking silently on her door he didn't get an answer. Either she as asleep or…

_No don't go there….just let her sleep in peace._

He wavered for a few seconds but then put his hand on the door handle and opened the door quietly. Sticking his head inside he searched for the familiar form of his roommate on the bed but there was nothing. No Jess. Not even her sheets looked used.

Panic….

That was Nick's first emotion. Where was she?

Closing the door he breathed deeply to calm down and was about to storm back into the living room, when he noticed his own bedroom door slightly ajar.

Curious he walked up to it and opened it.

And there she was.

Curled up into a tight little ball on his bed. Softly breathing and clutching his pillow to her chest and burrowing her nose into it.

_Oh how cute can someone get?_

Nick entered his room and closed the door behind him. Slowly he walked to the bed and leaned over the sleeping girl.

"You're really something else sweetheart."

A soft kiss on her forehead followed the whispered words and he was about to cover her with the blanket lying in a heap beside her, when she suddenly mumbled something and opened her sleepy eyes.

"Is it mornin' already?" her hoarse voice sounded distant and slightly confused.

"No." he smirked, draping the blanket over her. "You slept for maybe an hour or so. Go back to sleep."

A small hand tightened itself on his wrist while he was tugging the blanket around her shoulders.

"Don't leave."

Frowning slightly, Nick sat down beside her and held her hand.

"What's up Jess? I mean it's not like I am not happy about you being in my bed, but I am a little bit concerned by the fact that you ended up in my room when you wanted to take a nap."

Her eyes flickered down to the bed and she suppressed a cough.

"Do you mind?"

"That's not what I said."

The silence stretched uncomfortably and finally Nick decided to take action. Climbing onto the bed behind her, he pulled her up, so that her head was resting on his chest.

"So why don't you tell me what is bothering you?"

Jess sighed in resignation but didn't look up to him. She preferred to train her gaze on the lamp standing right in front of her.

"I am not comfortable in my room." she mumbled.

"Ehm…why?" Though he had a very good idea why, he still felt that she had to say it out loud. Just to get it off her chest. _And maybe I should listen to my own advice and tell her that I developed a similar problem with her room._

"I kind of don't feel safe in there. Or anywhere when I happen to be alone for that matter. I know I am being stupid, but imagine what would have happened if you hadn't found me."

"I better don't ." Nick grumbled and nuzzled her hair, breathing her unique smell in.

"And it is NOT stupid." He added in a strong voice that didn't allow any objections.

"I am getting nervous if I don't know where you are. Just a few minutes ago I was so close to a panic attack because you wouldn't answer my knocking at your door. As crazy as that sounds, I guess it is a normal human reaction."

Both didn't say anything for a few moments. This time Jess broke the silence.

"What are we now Nick?" she asked in a small voice.

Surprised Nick pulled her tighter into his body.

"You are my girlfriend. My best friend and roommate." He paused for a second and then added with a steady and very sure voice. "You are the girl I fell madly in love with the first moment she stormed through the loft calling my name and asking for help with her furniture."

Jess smiled happily. After coughing twice, she turned around and beamed at him.

"You, Nick Miller, are the most pessimistic and gruffest guy I have ever met."

_Way to compliment me Jess…_

"And you know what? That's exactly why I fell I love with you. You drive me nuts with your negative view of almost everything! And it makes me love you even more. Because I know you will keep my feet on the ground when I am about to fly off into Jess-space. And I know that with you there will be always passion! And I knew this from the first time I saw your turtle face. I was just trying to suppress all of those feelings….or even the hope because I was so sure that you saw me as the weird kid irritating the hell out of you and I know that I do most if the tim…"

Before she could finish the sentence and, god forbid, start a new one, Nick titled her face up and kissed her. Instead of words, jess produced only a satisfied moan.

Jess felt fireworks exploding not only in her brain but also in her tummy. That kiss was just perfect. Strong and reassuring but also sweet and gently.

_If that's how it's gonna be every time now, I will have to make sure that I have a notepad with me all the time…cause boy…I won't be able to talk for the next few minutes._

Nick was also enjoying the situation.

_She is so soft…and tastes like strawberries and vanilla….I think I know how addicts feel now._

Since Jess lungs still weren't working properly, they soon were forced to part. Both panting heavily and looking into the others eyes in a dream like state. Slowly Jess lowered her head down to Nick's chest and snuggled into his embrace, listening to his comforting heart beat.

She smiled softly, while comfortingly rubbing small circles on Nick's arm.

"I am sorry I scared you so much. But to be honest, I am also glad this happened."

Incredulously Nick stared down at her.

"Why the hell would you say that?"

Hugging him, she answered smirking.

"Because otherwise you wouldn't have had the guts to make a move on me."

Nick chuckled.

"You are such a bunch of trouble Jess and I am almost afraid to admit that I love you for it."

**The End**

Thank you all for taking the time and reading and reviewing my story! It was a pleasure to write it for such a nice and "fluffery" audience

Please leave a short review how you liked/or didn't like the end so that I know what I can do better if I should write another story

Love to hear your opinion!

P.S.

NEW GIRL ROCKS! SHALL IT NEVER END!


End file.
